What a fantastic article about nuts on MDA today! Just yesterday I was sitting in a meeting for work, and a coworker with celiac popped out a huge can of almonds for lunch, “because I’m on the caveman diet.” Too bad she didn’t read this piece.

Mark’s post is brief and to the point, while also answering every question I had, from selenium content in Brazil nuts, to the chelation action of phytic acid. There is also a hidden gem in the table at the beginning. Although he merely eludes to this factual tidbit, I suggest you check out the difference in phytic acid between brown and polished white rice — so telling.

When I saw the recipe for Vegetarian Pad Thai on Frugal Feeding, the first thing I thought was, “that would be great with some steak!” I finally got a chance to make this last night, and I had enough ingredients to make it again for lunch today. I made a few modifications, and here is my resulting version. I am not a huge fan of the peanut butter, so I skipped that, although I’m sure it’s delicious. There were a few other changes, most notably using coconut oil to fry instead of sesame oil, which i added as a flavoring at the end. I apologize for the blurry pictures; all I had was my cell phone. Continue reading →

Cooking for yourself may not be essential to achieve actual fitness, but it sure does help. Cooking at home is economical, fun, and can give you a sense of accomplishment. Sure it takes a little time, but with practice and a little help you can prepare gourmet meals in less time than it takes to drive to a restaurant and place an order.

This morning Mark’s Daily Apple provided a tip with the potential to save a huge amount of time, and give your weekly meals some variety. The article, Comfort Food Three Ways: How to Turn One Roast into Several Amazing Meals, details the preparation of 2 full meals: Pot Roast with Potatoes and Shepherd’s Pie, as well as some fast meatballs. This coming Tuesday I will attempt to follow the recipes, and I will document what will hopefully be a success. I am already planning some slight alterations, but you’ll have to watch for my post to see what those are.

If all goes well, I will be looking to create similar recipe combinations in the future. Have you ever tried something similar? Do you have any ideas for meals that can be made together from similar ingredients? If you follow Mark’s 3 comfort food recipes, let us know how they turn out!

After a bit of a hiatus, Dr. Kurt Harris has made a series of several posts on his blog, “Archevore”. The first in the recent series describes an overhaul he has made to his diet.

Dr. Harris’s blog sometimes leans on the technical side, but his Archevore diet is laid out in terms that anyone can understand. If you want to know all the detailed “why’s” behind his dietary recommendations, as explained in his blog posts, you may need a bit of a science background, or at least a few articles from Wikipedia to guide your reading. After all, this diet thing isn’t exactly simple to figure out.

The Actual Fitness dietary framework, which will be laid out in the near future, will resemble the Archevore diet in many respects, particularly its rejection of sugars, seed oils, and gluten grains (wheat), collectively called the “Neolithic Agents of Disease”; and its embracing of animal fats and proteins. Subscribe (with the button to the right) to see the diet as soon as it is posted!

In the meantime, which of Dr. Harris’s Steps do you think are the easiest to implement? And which Are the hardest? Do you have any tips for following any of them?

Struggling with heartburn? Give this post from MDA a read. Here’s a preview:

What is GERD anyway? What causes – or at least contributes to it? How do everyday lifestyle choices influence the condition, and what measures – beyond the CW pharmaceutical schtick (e.g. the happy, ubiquitous “purple pill”) – can we employ in treating, let alone curing the condition. (While the establishment might be content with taming the reflux beast, most folks I know who have GERD would rather beat it to death with a stick.)

After trying some of Mark’s suggestions, which do you find to work the best? Which are the easiest to start using?